Best Independent Publishers

Award-winning indie presses, curated by Reedsy

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Accepts unagented submissions?

Independent publishers are a huge part of the literary landscape. Together, they’ve gone viral, scored film contracts, and fielded contenders for every literary prize under the sun, starting with the Pulitzer.

Look through our handpicked list of the best indie presses for a host of places that can make your publishing dreams come true. Filter by category, genre, and submissions format — and whether they’re taking unagented submissions.

What is an independent publisher?

An independent publisher is a publisher not affiliated with any big corporations or conglomerates — meaning they operate independently. Think of them as the small businesses of the publishing world: they’re like chic local boutiques compared to the Macy’s and Nordstroms of the Big 5. Indie presses also tend to be small presses, an industry term for publishers making less than $50 million annually.

Independent publishers vs. self-publishers

There’s plenty to ruminate on when it comes to the distinction between indie publishing and self-publishing, but independent publishers are quite different from self-publishers. In a nutshell, indie presses operate on a far smaller scale than the billion-dollar publishing juggernauts, but they still fall under the umbrella of traditional publishing.

Resources for submitting to independent publishers in 2023

Not all independent publishers take unagented submissions, but many of them do, allowing you to cut out the middleman and make your writerly dreams come true all on your own. 

Of course, to make this happen, you'll have to be your project's best advocate. That means writing the best book you can, of course, but you shouldn't stop there — you'll have to study your target press's submissions guidelines and let them guide your next move.

Will you need to craft a killer book proposal, or brush up on your querying technique? Either way, we've got you covered. To give you a push on your path to indie publisher stardom, we've compiled some resources for putting together the perfect submission.

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Blog posts

Reedsy | No agent? No problem | 2023-05

No agent? No problem.

A Reedsy professional can polish up your submission. Ask for a query review.